Phone makers these days are packing so many new technologies into their wireless handsets, it’s enough to make you nostalgic for a plain ole phone. Take Nokia’s N95, which has networking technologies including 3G and Wi-Fi, a still/video camera and a GPS module. But all of these features are pointless unless they’re easy to use and are stitched together in a such way as to fit into our daily lives. The best way to do this: software.
Nokia seems to be learning this lesson. A perfect example is Nokia Sports Tracker, which allows people to access statistics and other relevant information on their workouts. For instance, those who walk, run, cycle, or ski can track metrics such as average speed, total distance, altitude, and so on. By starting the application at the beginning of your workout, the program, through the use of GPS, tracks your positions and gathers statistics as you go. Sports Tracker’s latest version also includes the ability to include videos and pictures with your workout by attaching the media from your phone.
Nokia has also released a Sports Tracker beta web site that allows you to create a free account and upload your workouts from your handset directly to the web. There you can display a map of your workout route, average speed, elevation, and a host of other statistics.
But Sports Tracker isn’t just for fitness nuts. Travelers can share data about their trips with family and friends by way of a travel map accompanied by images and videos taken along the way. As Symbian-Guru has suggested, Nokia might want to consider a name change for Nokia Sports Tracker, something like Nokia Travels. Perhaps an integration with Dopplr is something the company should consider as well.
7 trackbacks so far
2:01 AM PT
[...] ‘workouts’ for all to see and mentions that Sports Tracker, despite the name, is not just for fitness freaks suggesting that it is particularly great for travelers. Some positive comments on the article also go to show that Sports Tracker is becoming a useful [...]
3:34 AM PT
[...] een interessante recensie van de Nokia Sports Tracker kan je terecht op de website van trendwatcher Giga Omni. Technorati tags: nokia Nokia Sports Tracker [...]
5:11 AM PT
[...] une analyse intéressante du Nokia Sports Tracker, rendez-vous sur le site des trendwatchers de Giga Omni. Technorati tags:nokia nokia sports tracker [...]
2:04 PM PT
[...] Review: Nokia Sports Tracker… Now That’s Hot - GigaOMNice showcase what kind of applications next-gen mobile devices can enable. [...]
8:38 AM PT
[...] out soon and all the applications that will utilize its new hardware stack. Because, like I said on GigaOm a while back, feature-packed phones are useless unless they are tied into our daily lives with [...]
9:27 AM PT
[...] on the wild success of the Nokia Sports Tracker application, that allows you to capture, upload, and share your workout data with friends and [...]
9:03 AM PT
[...] a handset company to an online mobile software powerhouse, because they know that mobile hardware, when combined with the right software is an attractive and profitable draw to mobile [...]
8 comments so far
11:37 AM PT
I love the idea of the Sports Tracker and agree this is more than a tool for the active lifestyle. But being a cyclist this makes me really want to upgrade my phone so I can use this service.
2:16 PM PT
This is a great idea. Athletes will love it!
2:11 AM PT
I’ve been using the Sports Tracker for a while and it is great, and very much not just for sports. I use it for mapping, including driving all over Cuba last year, which turned out a lot more accurate than most available maps.
3:43 AM PT
It’s a great product, but unfortunately the gps will drain the bbattery in just over four hours. That is not always enough for a golf round, much less for a tourist day.
4:16 PM PT
Here’s an interesting interview with the developers of SportsTracker about how they put it all together
(link)
8:28 PM PT
The SportsTracker is a great tool, but in mine gear it gets frozen after around 5 minutes. Stop watch works fine, but pace and distance counters got frozen every now and then. In the car it stops displaying a distance and pace after couple of minutes. I believe Nokia did it on purpose.
May be I did something wrong when installing or using the program, so I would do appreciate any thoughts and suggestions that would help me to avoid SportsTracker issues.
9:32 AM PT
I have the same problem as Evgeny described.
After a while the SportsTracker stops displaying speed/pace and distance. In irregular intervals it “comes back” for a few seconds, “notices” the new position and adds that to the previous track but then it dies again, while the stop watch keeps running all the time.
I don’t believe that I did something wrong with installing the software because that was very easy and self explanatory (throug the Nokia PC Suite), therefore I think it’s just a plain little bug in the software, as it seems to have a problem if you stop to zero speed during a session.
I would really love to get a fix for this. Other than that it is (or rather would be) a perfect tool for recording hiking trips.
Cheers,
Sascha
9:36 AM PT
Ah, I forgot to add: I use the SportsTracker with my E51 and a Holux GPSlim236 GPS mouse. If that helps for a diagnosis.
I know the mouse does have a working BT-connection with the phone as the SportsTracker displays the green “GPS Box” on the screen.